Savoring Our Home--Creative Use of Space--Art Studio

The reason my last post said that you might chuckle when I showed you my new art studio is that it is located . . . in our master bathroom! Again, I must credit my caring and creative husband for this genius, though unorthodox, idea. He also did much of the preliminary work to create the space for me. That was no hardship for him, however; give Mark a sledge hammer and something to demolish, and he is a happy guy.

Previously, I had been painting in the kitchen and frequently taking down and putting up all my gear because it was in the way otherwise. Workable, but not great, especially as I began to paint more and more often. Also, the large west-facing window often required the unsatisfactory choice of either enduring a glare on my work or closing the blinds.

We had planned some fairly extensive work in our master bath anyway, had the money saved up and our plans in the works. One day this plan came together in Mark's mind with his concern that I needed a painting studio. In our down-sized home, the master bedroom is a comfortably large enough room without being over-sized, and the master bath & walk-in closet are exceptionally large for this size house. Like many master bathrooms, it boasted a huge so-called garden tub which I had used only once in the six plus years we have lived here. When filling it completely drained a good-sized water heater, I decided that using it was WAY too wasteful. There is a normal tub/shower combo in the second bathroom for my occasional soaks.

The garden tub was set into a 5' X 8' nook around the corner from the shower stall with a wonderful, large, north-facing (perfect for painters) window. I won't take you through all the stages of the decision-making process, but simply will say that the sledge hammer performed its magic, and I gained a lovely art studio. For quite awhile, I used it with wall board patches around the tub area, the original ugly wallpaper above that, and an exposed concrete floor beneath (we tore out the worn carpet from that area--why would anyone carpet a bathroom?). It worked great, but was not very attractive, as you can imagine.

Now, we have completed remodeling the master bath and are delighted with the results. Large stone-look porcelain floor tiles laid on the diagonal unify the bath, little toilet room, and closet; the walls are a tranquil, warm caramelly color; we raised the vanity (which did not need replacing) to a more comfortable height on a plinth base (Mark and a handyman did that together) and gave it a new terra cotta colored counter top with vanilla sinks. I apologize if this is more information than you are interested in, patient readers. It's just that I am truly thrilled with our new master bath/art studio.

Question of the day: What has been your most unusual, creative use of space to make your home function uniquely well for you?

Savoring Our Home--Creative Use of Space--Home Office

Since I will not be able to write a new post for the next 10 days or so (for happy reasons--too busy in a good way), I am repeating two well-received posts from last year that I hope will interest new readers. These also tie in with a recent post on green living and the reuse, repair, and recycle principle--in a different way. These two posts are about using space in our homes creatively and efficiently. Hope you like these two spaces even a fraction as much as I do.

For a change of pace, we are back to hearth and home. I wanted to share my awesome, space-saving desk with you. We have discovered some very creative ways to use space in our down-sized home. My two favorites are this custom-made workstation and my painting studio. I'll show you the studio next time. You'll be amazed--and it may give you a chuckle, too.

Twice in our lives, we have chosen to move from fairly large homes to much smaller ones. Each time, we got rid of all the stuff that accumulates when there is always plenty of room for more. Each time, we felt younger and lighter on life's journey after paring down to the possessions we most needed and cared about.

However, living in a dramatically smaller space requires adjustment as well. For example, moving in semi-retirement from a large Atlanta home to a perfect-for-two North Florida home left me without an office of my own. My husband had visions of happily sharing the small third bedroom as a family den/office. He reckoned without the extent to which his need for order clashed with my ten books and twenty projects at once clutter. We coped while he looked for a better way.

His creative genius led to the suggestion that one end of our kitchen, where we kept a narrow bookshelf and an old TV set (TV still there, as you can see) had room for a desk for me. I was skeptical. The kitchen is not large to begin with, and we ate many of our meals at a small table on that end. Also, the generous side window extended to within 22" of the wall--how could that be enough room?

Well, we mused, looked at ready-made desks (none right for the space), and planned until we had figured out the basic design for the office nook pictured above. A retired gentleman turned genius cabinet maker constructed and installed my dream desk and bookshelves. Six roomy file cabinets hold all my projects; numerous small and large drawers, some with built in dividers, hold papers and supplies; a slide-out keyboard shelf serves my computer needs. And whatever is cooking (I call cooking my other art form) is only steps away. What could be better?

Today, it is hard to imagine how unlikely an office location this seemed at first--or that we had actually contemplated adding a small room onto the house for an office/studio for Mary. The space we have is more than enough. It just needed creative re-purposing.

Question of the day: What change in the use of your space has brought you the most satisfaction?

Growing--Creative Green Living

You may be wondering what these two photos have in common. They illustrate, on a small scale, an important feature of a green creative everyday life: the trio of Repair, Recycle, and Reuse. Your favorite applications of this principle will probably be different from ours, but each of us helps preserve the earth as well as our family budget when we follow this path.

When one of our favorite blankets got too worn on the top edge and was shedding little fuzz balls, I decided to find some blanket binding and repair it. For the price of a modest sewing store notion and a little time at the sewing machine, we have a newly usable blanket. One of my mantras, going back to our early married student days, is that things cost either money or time (or sometimes some of each). When time is in short supply, it may not be feasible or wise to spend it mending old blankets. When there is more time (and you're cheap!), a repair may be worthwhile.

The other photo shows our humble compost bin. Since we eat large quantities of fresh fruits and vegetables and since Mark loves gardening, we decided to start keeping compost. That very week, Mark saw this bin out at the curb for trash on his exercise walk--a small serendipity for a happy scavenger. Although it had no top, we gave it a try--Mark fearing that animals would get into it and make a mess. Well, no mess after a couple years of use, so it will do. We are lazy composters, not bothering to turn the compost or making much of a project of it. We simply collect scraps in a plastic container with a tight lid, kept under the kitchen sink. When it's full, we dump the contents in our bin, cover it with "brown" material (mostly dried leaves from a pile we keep next to the bin), and pour one watering can full of water over the top. Whenever Mark needs to feed plants or enrich soil, he opens a door at the bottom of the bin and scoops out amazingly rich organic material. Except for eggshells, we don't put any animal related material in the compost, but we do include used tea bags and filters full of used coffee grounds. Our trees and plants flourish on their gourmet feast!

Question of the day: How does your family follow the Repair, Reuse, and Recycle principle?